The 10 Best trades in Sacramento Kings history

9. Spud Webb

These days, Spud Webb is most often remembered as the 5’6″ guy who won the 1986 NBA dunk contest. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as what he did was truly impressive, but it’s a disservice to his time in the league to only remember that.

During his time in Atlanta, Webb spent most of his time as a reserve, starting just 29% of his games played — 88% of his starts came in his final two seasons. Despite being a fan-favorite in the ATL, the Hawks made the decision to “capitalize” on Webb’s career-best season by trading him for a seemingly up-and-coming player in Travis May.

The 14th pick in the 1990 NBA Draft, May had just finished a strong rookie season that saw him average 14.3 points and 4.0 assists while starting 55 of 64 games played. Atlanta would not only get young but and a player with a supposedly higher ceiling than Webb. That, however, is not how the future would end up playing out.

Sadly, May would rupture both tendons in his ankle just two games into his first season in Atlanta and miss the rest of the year. He would return for the following season, but that would be his last in the NBA.

Webb meanwhile thrived in Sacramento as the Kings’ starting point guard averaging career-highs in points (16.0), rebounds (2.9), assists (7.1), steals (1.6), and three-point percentage (36.7%) in his first year with the team. He would go on to average 13.7 points and 6.7 assists in his four-year Kings’ career.

While the team failed to make the playoffs during that time, the core of Webb, along with Mitch Richmond, Wayman Tisdale, Lionel Simmons, and Walt Williams, formed one of the best “worst” teams in Kings’ history — especially their 58-point beatdown of the Dallas Mavericks in ’92.